Running a business online comes with numerous challenges due to the fast-moving environment , where customer expectations are higher, competition is just a click away, and technology keeps evolving. Still, moving online is clearly worth it.

In Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), 73% of people shop online, so if your business isn’t there, you’re missing a large share of customers. The European e-commerce market itself is huge, too, expected to reach €353.5 billion in 2026 and keep growing.

Payments provider Klarna has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered app in OpenAI’s ChatGPT centered around shopping and search. The Klarna Shopping Search app in ChatGPT enables users to describe the types of products they’re looking for and, in one conversation, see visual results with up-to-date prices, availability and offers from multiple merchants, according to the companies. From there, the Klarna Shopping Search app redirects users to the merchant’s site, where those consumers can complete their purchases.

Learn how to increase checkout conversion by reducing friction, simplifying payments, and giving customers a faster, more seamless buying experience. To increase checkout conversion in 2026, you need to remove anything that slows customers down or makes them hesitate at the final step. This matters because the average 2026 checkout conversion rate in Europe is just around 20%. That means that out of 100 people who initiate the checkout process, only 20 actually go through with the purchase , while the rest drop off somewhere along the way.

Digital transactions are expected to increase from $12.3 trillion in 2025 to nearly $17 trillion in 2028, driven by a stronger focus on customer convenience, the expansion of e-commerce, and high levels of smartphone adoption. While this growth is good for businesses, it’s also good for organized, technologically sophisticated criminal groups. 

This playbook explores the current state of fraud, AI-powered security challenges, and the latest tools and strategies companies can use to protect themselves from digital attacks.

Visa and Mastercard are betting that agentic commerce will multiply the number of payments that consumers make for purchases by taking humans out of the equation. Chief financial officers for each of the card networks cited that reasoning last week at JPMorgan’s Global Technology, Media, and Communications Conference when they discussed shopping that may be driven by artificial intelligence in the future.  

This playbook explains how to shift from reactive recovery to proactive payment optimization, so more subscription renewals succeed on the first try. At many subscription and eCommerce businesses, payments only get attention when something goes wrong. But in today’s market, where customer outreach is less reliable and acquisition costs are higher than ever, failed payments can have a significant impact on growth.  

The cross-border payments space continues to change in 2026 as banks and payment providers pursue a growing opportunity. In FXC Intelligence’s recent market sizing update, we projected that the global wholesale and retail cross-border payments market was worth $208tn in 2025, with retail flows projected to grow from $44tn last year to $67.3tn. 

As the industry changes, keeping track of its biggest players remains key to understanding how the industry is moving. Today, FXC Intelligence launches The 2026 Cross-Border Payments 100, which recognises and celebrates the 100 most important players in cross-border payments. Now in its eighth year, our annual listing and accompanying report profiles the successes and key achievements that have put these companies at the forefront of global money movement.

FXC Intelligence data provides an update on our assessment of the total addressable market (TAM) for cross-border payments, globally and regionally, and now includes cross-border payments revenues and take rates. Sat at the centre of the global economy – moving value for trade, powering supply chains, supporting households through remittances and enabling payouts to workers worldwide – the cross-border market’s scale, $208tn in 2025, is undeniable. However, scale is not the same as monetisation.